Q. I was taught in yeshiva that you have to have a minimum kavanah in the entire shmone esreh of standing in front of the King. Is that correct? I think very few people that I know have that kavanah the whole time?
A. The opinion of Hagrach Soloveitchik Zt'l (on Rambam, Tefilah 4:1) is well known. He rules that although the Rambam's (ibid. ch.10) opinion is that you require intention of mind only during the first brocho of the amida, that is merely in regards to intention on the meaning of the words. However in regards to the general awareness that one is standing before the King, that kavanah is essential and is indispensable throughout the whole amida. Failing to have that in mind would be tantamount to being "missassek" or not engaging in the act of tefilah at all.
Nevertheless, as you mention, today for most that is undeniably a difficult task. Many in our days rely in need on the opinion of the Chazon Ish. He maintains that the fact that you are engaged in a davening undertaking creates enough consciousness, however feeble and hidden that may be, to be considered as standing in front of the King. Minchas Shlomo (1:1) mentions indeed, that if someone is so engrossed and absorbed in his thoughts and he is not even aware that his lips are moving, he would not comply with the mitzvah of tefilah. He would be regarded as being in a state of drunken stupor on the extreme level of Lot.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit"a
Important Numbers
